The prior art discloses a number of electronic devices that assist with the administration of prescribed medication and monitor the medical treatment progress. Medication monitoring devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,200,891 and 5,642,731 provide a number of functions for facilitating patient adherence to prescribed therapies, and for facilitating cross-correlation of compliance data and clinical information about the patient.
Such devices have a plurality of medication compartments, a microprocessor with associated circuitry for providing timing signals, signals and display messages and for reading inputs from buttons that convey programming and operating information. They rely on programmed schedules for providing audible and/or visual alert signals at the scheduled times for taking certain medications and indicate the specific compartment from which the particular medication is to be taken, and quantity to be taken. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,731 is also capable of collecting contemporaneous data concerning the patient's adherence to the medication schedule, the progression of the medical condition(s) being treated, symptoms and side effects the patient is experiencing and other information pertinent to monitoring and treating the patient's medical condition(s).
However, the prior art suffers from a number of inherent disadvantages that have been solved by the present invention. The prior art devices contain complex operating systems rendering them difficult to understand how to operate and extract medical and educational information, and lack the functionality for easily presenting patient queries and obtaining patient responses, and easily communicating with remote devices. The operating systems of the prior art devices are also inadequate in their ability to provide for differentiation of operating sequences pertinent to specific medications and treatment progress, further complicating their operation and monitoring of treatment regimens.
Further, the prior art devices lack the ability to easily gather contemporaneous data reflecting treatment progress and actual patient behavior for adjusting subsequent treatment routines accordingly. The prior art devices also fail to provide the ability to easily deliver positive and negative feedback and warnings to the patient based upon actual patient behaviors related to their medication and their health. The prior art devices also fail to provide for automatic communication and transfer of data and information between the device and remote devices.
The prior art Devices lack the ability to provide for easy identification of the medication to be loaded in each compartment of the medical monitoring device, and fail to provide for easy and reliable loading and reloading of the compartments. Additionally, the prior art devices include fixed volume medication storage capacities that limit the device's flexibility and portability. The prior art devices further are unable to easily provide the patient with reminders as to when to reload specific medication(s), which medication compartments to reload, how many to reload, and what the medication looks like. Finally, the prior art devices suffer from a difficulty in giving repetitive reinforcing information on a per-medication basis, to encourage better compliance with the entire medical treatment regimen.
In view of the foregoing prior art disadvantages, it is an object of the present invention to provide a medical monitoring device, operating system and communication system that is simple to operate, and a method for managing the administration of prescribed medication(s) and treatment regimens for a patient's medical condition(s). Accordingly, the present invention provides advantages over the prior art devices by facilitating easy access to medication-specific, disease-specific and treatment-specific information, and by including functionality for easily presenting patient queries and obtaining patient responses. Further, the operating system of the present invention provides advantages over the prior art devices through clearly differentiating between operating sequences associated with each specific medication, further simplifying the device's operation and management of treatment regimens. Also, the present invention easily provides the patient with reminders as to when to reload specific medication(s), which medication compartments to reload, how much medication to reload, and what the medication looks like, even further simplifying the device's operation and management of treatment regimens.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a medical monitoring device, operating system and method for managing the administration of prescribed medication(s) and treatment regimens capable of easily gathering, storing and communicating contemporaneous data reflecting treatment progress and actual patient behaviors. Accordingly, the present invention provides advantages over the prior art devices by enabling a health care professional to monitor treatment progress based on the communicated contemporaneous data via a cradle-based modem system or infrared communication system, to provide for the adjustment of subsequent treatment routines accordingly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a feature that, based upon patient behavioral data, presents the patient or caregiver positive and negative feedback concerning the patient's medication and medical condition(s). The present invention further includes features that provide repetitive reinforcing information on a per-medication basis. Accordingly, the present invention provides advantages over the prior art devices by encouraging better compliance with the entire medical treatment regimen managed by the device.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a medical monitoring device, operating system and method for managing the administration of prescribed medication(s) and treatment regimens that facilitates easy identification and identifying characteristics of the medication contained in each device compartment.
The present invention also provides for variability in the volume capacities of the medication compartments which expands the device's flexibility and portability over the prior art. The present invention also provides pre-packaging and labeling methods for facilitating easy and reliable dispensing, loading, and reloading of the medical monitoring device's medication compartments, and medications.
The present invention provides advantages over the prior art devices by providing for simple operation and facilitating maximized efficiency and effectiveness in administering treatment regimens.
Additional objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will be set forth, in part, in the description that follows, or may be learned from practicing or using the present invention. The objects and advantages may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that the following general and detailed descriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not to be viewed as being restrictive of the invention, as claimed.